Construction union UCATT are warning that a new campaign is an attempt by some construction companies to protect their current hidden tax subsidies while continuing to deny workers the most basic of employment rights.

Last week the Home Builders Federation (HBF) and the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) supported by housing companies Barratt's and Persimmon launched "Stop the Unfair Building Tax". The campaign is opposed to the government's current proposals to stamp out endemic bogus self-employment in the construction industry.

In July 2009, the government announced that it was consulting on proposals that would mean that all construction workers would be "deemed" to be employed for taxation purposes unless they met three distinct criteria, that: they supplied their own materials, provided their own plant, or they employed other workers. The consultation on the "deeming" proposals closed in October.

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UCATT have welcomed the government's proposals as being the first genuine attempt to end wide-scale bogus self-employment in the construction industry. UCATT have argued that the measures should be extended to ensure that workers who are "deemed" employees for tax purposes are given full employment rights.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: "Bogus self-employment corrupts the construction industry. This new campaign is purely an attempt to preserve unfair and unethical tax subsidies, only available to construction companies. The government’s proposals will not only ensure that the Treasury receives proper revenues but will start to tackle the rampant casualisation which bedevils the construction industry."

(CD/KMcA)